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209 articles in this category
2140 1 2#MondayMatness with Steve Krah: With mantra of ‘hold the rope,’ Delta wrestlers keep on winning
By STEVE KRAH
stvkrh905@gmail.com
Delta High School has a history of wrestling success.
The Eagles have piled up victories and titles over the years.
From 1980-81 to 1984-85, Delta won five straight IHSAA team championships.
There have also been eight semistates, 15 regionals, 19 sectionals,12 conference titles and numerous champions and state placers.
Cody LeCount is in his second season as Eagles head coach in 2022-23 and working to keep Delta among the elite programs in Indiana.
LeCount is a 2014 graduate of Perry Meridian High School in Indianapolis where he went 184-2 and was a two-time IHSAA state champion (2013 at 132 pounds and 2014 at 145) and one-time state runner-up (2012 at 126). He was the Indianapolis Star’s Wrestler of the Year in 2014.
He grappled for two years at Central Michigan University and spent two years at Marian University in Indianapolis.
LeCount began his coaching career as an assistant for three years at Carmel High School before moving to Delta, where he is also a special education teacher.
He got to work with Indiana High School Wrestling Coaches Association Hall of Famer Jim Tonte as well as Matt Schoettle at Perry Meridian, National Wrestling Hall of Fame Michigan Chapter member Tom Borelli at Central Michigan, IHSWCA Hall of Famer Steven Bradley at Marian and IHSWCA Hall of Famer Ed Pendoski at Carmel.
“Growing up around wrestling my whole life I’ve been around really, really good coaches,” says LeCount, who competed for . “I’ve learned a lot of things from a coaching standpoint on how to train, how to get in shape and get through the grinding season.”
In LeCount’s first season at Delta, the Eagles went 14-5, won a sectional title and were Class 2A IHSWCA State Duals qualifiers. The only senior on that team was Dillon Tuttle (who placed eight at the state meet at 138).
So far in 2021-22, Delta is 7-0 and has outscored foes 475-78. The Eagles beat Tri, Lapel, Alexandria-Monroe, Frankton and Greenfield-Central at the Rex Leavitt Elwood Invitational Nov. 19 and earned dual wins against Muncie Central Nov. 29 and South Adams Dec. 1.
Seven individuals are 7-0. Five are state-ranked — Ayden Bollinger (Class of 2025) No. 3 at 106), Neal Mosier (Class of 2024) No. 7 at 120, Braxton Russell (Class of 2024) No. 13 at 170, Kolten Rhone’s (Class of 2024) No. 14 at 145 and Kaeb Stebbins (Class of 2025) No. 16 at 152.
On a roster of 31, there are four seniors with two in the varsity lineup — Garrett Clay (160) and Heath Sprague (195).
Borrowing from a locker room speech give by Susquehanna Township (Pa.) High School football coach Joe Headen, LeCount and his assistants — Austin Crouch, Jacob Gray (No. 3 on Delta’s all-time win list and a state champion at 182 in 2017), David Locke (No. 7 on the win list and a state champion at 145 in 1984) and Keith Rhonemus — have Delta wrestlers learning how to “hold the rope.”
“When we’re the climbing the mountain everybody’s got to hold on to that rope,” says LeCount.
“If one guy slips he might make everybody else fall. It’s our job to hold on to the rope and it’s also our job to help everybody else stay on the rope.”
It’s about teamwork and accountability.
“If I do my job, everybody else can continue to do their job,” says LeCount. “Don’t let that guy slack off in practice. Don’t let this guy give up an extra two points in a dual meet.
“These kids have bought into that kind of system.”
LeCount has gotten his athletes to “do everything to their full potential and just trust the process.”
“If they do everything right they can get to where they want to be,” says LeCount. “They know that there are days when they’re going to be really tired. There are going to be days that are really hard. They might lose a match. They might win a big match.
“It’s knowing the ups and downs of the season, how to train and compete and just love each other.”
High school wrestling presents the opportunity to compete in an individual sport in a group setting.
“Wrestling is 1 v 1 out there,” says LeCount. “You mess up it’s one you. The team aspect of things makes it even greater.
“I might be biased, but it’s the greatest sport there is. There’s nothing else out there like it. It makes you have to depend on yourself to win your match and help your team.”
So many wrestlers come off the mat after a loss in a six-minute match in tears because they gave it their all.
And it’s as much mental as physical.
“That internal drive, mental toughness and voice in your head, it all has to come from within,” says LeCount. “You can always do so much more than what your mind’s telling you.”
2A No. 2 Delta goes to Jay County Tuesday, Dec. 6 for a double-dual. The Eagles grappled with Winchester at 6 p.m., followed by 2A No. 1 Jay County. Yorktown will also wrestle Winchester.
Delta goes to Class 2A IHSWCA State Duals at Jay County Jan. 7. The Hoosier Heritage Conference at Pendleton Heights meet is Jan. 14. Then comes the IHSAA state tournament series — Delta Sectional Jan. 28, Jay County Regional Feb. 4, Fort Wayne Semistate Feb. 11 and State Finals Feb. 17-18 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
2520 1 1#MondayMatness with Steve Krah: Wawasee Warriors manage to successfully mix focus on team, individuals
By STEVE KRAH
stvkrh905@gmail.com
Embracing the group component with many eyes on personal achievement, Wawasee High School wrestlers are having another win-filled season.
The Warriors head into the week of Dec. 19 at 12-4 in varsity duals (including 4-0 against Northern Lakes Conference goes). Senior 170-pounder Gavin Malone is unbeaten so far in 2022-23. Seniors Hunter Miller (152) and Logan Stuckman (138) have one loss apiece and junior Kaleb Salazar (106) has two setbacks.
Asked to name his best qualities as a wrestler, Malone says “being dedicated and hard work. I’m trying to be the best leader I can be.”
Depending on the situation, Malone leads either by example or vocally.
At 18, he’s been grappling since 3.
“There’s been a lot of blood, sweat and tears,” says Malone. “Since I joined the Viper Wrestling Club I’ve developed a lot of moves that I can use in a match.”
The Wawasee Wrestling Club has about 80 members and about 20 of them with the advanced/competition-ready Vipers.
Malone is driven by the advice of several coaches — present and past.
Middle school coach Kevin Taylor, who was Wawasee’s head coach for six seasons, talks about hard work and dedication.
Former assistant Jesse Espinoza said “jam, jam, jam” — the idea of being tough on top and being the hammer rather than the nail.
From Bumgardner, Malone heed the call to keeping pushing and focusing and staying in good position.
From Garrett Stuckman, it’s “keep fighting and always be moving.”
Malone says the team’s main focus at the beginning of the season is the State Duals.
“Wrestling is an individual sport with a team part,” says Malone. “At the end we strive for our goals. I hope everybody’s goal is to be a state champion.”
Gavin’s primary workout partner is senior Cameron Zimmerman (182) though he also drills with Miller or junior Donovan Blair (195).
“If I can use by strength with the technique it will get me a lot further,” says Malone.
After high school, he hopes to wrestle in college and study Criminal Justice.
Miller, 17, has been wrestling since he was 3.
“I have a lot of tricks in my bag, but I focus on two or three good moves in each position,” says Miller, who counts Malone and Stuckman as practice partners. (Logan is) quick and he holds pretty good position like me.
“It makes us able to capitalize on mistakes.”
He sees himself and Malone as by-example leaders and Stuckman and Zimmerman as vocal leaders.
Hunter also likes the individual part of the sport.
“My goal is to be a state champ,” says Miller. “You don’t have anybody holding you back.
“You’ve got to get it done for yourself.”
After high school, Miller plans to study engineering in college at either Purdue University or Trine University. He says scholarship opportunities and which school he chooses will have a bearing on whether he wrestles at the next level.
Stuckman says he prefers to push the pace and “jam, jam, jam.”
“It’s go, go, go,” says Stuckman, who at 17 has been wrestling for 12 years. “What makes our team stand out is we’re all good at something.
“You have to respect us.”
After high school, Logan says he expects to work in the family business — Stuckman’s Sanitiation.
What makes this team of 42 (35 boys and seven girls) what it is?
“It’s a collection of great human beings,” says Bumgardner. “It’s the way they care about each other and love each other.
“They are extremely coachable. It’s been a lot of fun working with this group so far.”
Bumgardner and his assistants (Jamie Salazar, Braxton Alexander, Mike Deak, Isiah Faurote, Hal Heagy, Hunter Reed, Miguel Rodriguez, Shawn Senter, Garrett Stuckman, Raymon Torres and Dillon Whitacre) have grapplers competing really hard but in a relaxed environment.
“It’s painted on our (practice room) wall — Warrior Tough. It’s a mindset,” says Bumgardner. “We try to do everything to the best of your ability.”
Another motto: “Score points and have fun.”
“We’re not focused on pressure,” says Bumgardner. “There’s a lot going on in the world today and we need to focus on being great human beings rather than letting wrestling athletics consume our identities.”
Braxton Alexander (Class of 2019) is tied atop the career wins list with Kevin Carr (Class of 1999) at 166.
Wawasee is scheduled to host NLC opponent Concord Wednesday, Dec. 21 then gear up for the 32-team Al Smith Classic at Mishawaka Dec. 29-30.
The Warriors make their sixth straight appearances at the IHSWCA Class 2A State Duals Jan. 7. The competition will be held at Jay County.
In the past, the program has placed first in 2018, second in 2019, qualified in both 2020 and 2021 and came in fourth in 2022.
Wawasee hosts the NLC meet (with Concord, Goshen, Mishawaka, Northridge, NorthWood, Plymouth and Warsaw) Jan. 14.
The IHSAA state tournament series takes the Warriors to the Plymouth Sectional (with Bremen, Culver Academies, Culver Community, LaVille, Plymouth, Tippecanoe Valley, Triton and Warsaw) Jan. 28, Penn Regional Feb. 4, East Chicago Semistate Feb. 11 and IHSAA State Finals Feb. 17-18 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Frank Bumgardner is in his eighth season as Wawasee head coach.
He says the Warriors schedule allows for emphasizing team at the beginning and individuals at the end.
“There are situational awareness things we do,” says Bumgardner of the approach in dual meets where team points are so precious.
He welcomes the challenge of the State Duals where Wawasee wrestlers will “face hammers all day long.”
A graduate of Whitko Junior/Senior High School (2007), Bumgardner was head coach at his alma mater before coming to Wawasee.
Bumgardner earned an Education degree Indiana Purdue Fort Wayne and was teacher. He is now leading training and development at Viewrail, a Goshen-based company which designs, manufactures and installs custom stairs and railing.
3021 1 3#WrestlingWednesday with Jeremy Hines: Luke x2 lead the Bears into the post season
By JEREMY HINES
Thehines7@gmail.com
It would be hard to find anyone as similar as a pair of Evansville Central seniors. They have so much in common that they even share a first name.
The duo are both excellent students. They are wrestling practice partners. They are both looking to punch their ticket to state for the first time. Both of their dads are wrestling coaches. And, coincidentally, they are both named Luke.
Luke Robards and Luke Kemper have been captains of the Bear wrestling team for three seasons. Robards is 29-2 this season and is currently ranked No. 12 at 145 pounds. Kemper is 28-2 and is ranked No. 5 at 160 pounds.
“The team refers to Luke Kemper as Luke and Luke Robards as Robards,” Evansville Central head coach Brandon Robards (Luke’s dad) said. “It’s Luke, and it’s Robards. But it got a little more confusing this year because my younger sound Beau is on the team too. We told him, dude, you’re Beau, not Robards.”
The two have been practice partners since elementary school. It’s a relationship that has helped the grapplers tremendously.
“They have been practice partners since fourth grade,” Robards said. “They battle every day in practice. They push each other to be their best and they are also each other’s biggest fans. It’s been fun to see them really beat up on each other in the room and then be each other’s biggest cheerleader in the matches.”
The Lukes are similar in many things, but their wrestling styles are quite different.
“Robards wrestles like a little fly,” Kemper said. “I don’t mean that in a mean way. He just buzzes around from side to side and then as quick as he can he gets a leg and he’s driving you to the mat.”
Kemper has a more direct style of attack.
“He’s the polar opposite of me,” the younger Robards said. “He moves forward all the time with his hands up. It’s like wrestling a complete opposite of my style.”
According to coach Robards, the two have different mentalities as well.
“Luke Robards is really focused,” the coach said. “He can be intense in the wrestling room. Luke Kemper is pretty layed back. He’s very coachable and he’s a lot of fun to have in the room.”
Kemper’s dad, Jason, is one of the assistant coaches on the squad. Jason went to state as a wrestler and his other sons, Matt and Isaiah were also state qualifiers.
“Winning a state title has always been my goal,” Kemper said. “Both of my brothers and my dad went to state. I would sit in my room and imagine myself winning a title.”
Kemper had a setback his sophomore year. After just a few matches that season, he tore his ACL. He tried to wrestle through the pain for the next few meets, but soon realized he needed to take time to recover. He didn’t wrestle again that season.
“The recovery was long and rough,” Kemper said. “There was a lot of food involved. I got up to about 185 pounds and that doesn’t bode well on a 5-7 guy.”
Now the two wrestlers have their sites set on making the state tournament. When asked how it would feel if one punched their ticket to state but the other didn’t.
“It would be heartbreaking if one of us made it and the other didn’t,” Luke Robards said. “We have been in this together since elementary. We want to finish this together.”
As far as coaching their sons, or being coached by their dads go – the system they have in place has worked out well for all of them.
“It’s been fun coaching my sons,” coach Robards said. “It’s had its challenges. It’s not easy coaching your kids. Jason and I balance it well. We do a good job of knowing when to step in and coach the other guy’s kid. It’s a good balance.”
Luke Robards agrees.
“It’s an interesting dynamic, that’s for sure,” Luke Robards said. “They have been around us our whole lives. They know how we operate, and they get us. They know where we need to improve. And, when we go home, they know when to still talk with us about things or when to back off.”
Both grapplers are looking to wrestle in college. They aren’t sure where they want to go yet. Robards wants to study pre-law and Kemper wants to go into exercise science. They know there may come a time in the future where they won’t be wrestling with each other.
“It’s a unique situation because we’ve pushed each other pretty hard since we were babies,” Luke Robards said. “It will be weird, for sure, not having each other as partners in college. I’ll miss him. But, I’m sure we will still wrestle each other in the offseason and still push each other to get better.”
3467 1 4#WrestlingWednesday with Jeremy Hines: Prechtel working finish on top
By JEREMY HINES
Thehines7@gmail.com
Jeb Prechtel was the first Jasper wrestler to call the school’s new coach, Alex Lee last season. He wanted to see who would be teaching him for the next few years.
So, Prechtel gave Lee a call and asked if they could practice together.
“I kind of wanted to see if I could beat up on him,” Prechtel joked.
The coach and the student wrestled that first day and Lee scored a few takedowns on the young grappler. Prechtel wanted to learn how he got those takedowns and how he could stop them in the future.
“He called me that night and was asking what he was doing wrong and what he needed to do better,” Lee said. “He expects to beat everyone. He doesn’t care if you’re the coach or Jordan Burroughs. He expects to win. I knew right then this was a special wrestler. It bothered him that he didn’t know some things and he stayed up trying to figure them out. Once you tell him, you don’t have to tell him again. He’s is a very good learner.
Prechtel is currently ranked No. 3 in the state at 160 pounds. The senior is undefeated at 30-0. And, almost shockingly, he is coming off of his very first sectional championship last week.
Prechtel is almost the poster child for bad tournament luck throughout his career.
In his freshman season he ran into a very talented Gavinn Alstott in the Southridge sectional final. He fell to Alstott and then, for the next two seasons, he lost to eventual state champion J Conway in the sectional finals.
“Winning a sectional actually felt really good,” Prechtel said. “Having J Conway in sectional the last two years has really be a learning experience for me. I have learned how to take losses early in the post season. Now I’m wrestling with a lot more confidence.”
Prechtel has one goal this year – a state title.
“Jeb is determined,” Lee said. “He works tirelessly. I’m fully confident that he will reach his goal. I really expect to see him wrestling under the lights.”
According to Lee, Prechtel is a student of the sport. He soaks up as much wrestling knowledge as he possibly can and he’s a relentless worker.
Despite his work ethic and hunger for wrestling knowledge, Prechtel had a weakness he didn’t know how to overcome. He almost feared close matches.
“I’ve dealt with a lot of mental battles in my wrestling career,” Prechtel said. “I lost in semistate one year by one point. I was always scared of one-point matches. That was something I’ve tried very hard to overcome. It was a mental block with me.”
So Prechtel talked with his coaches in high school and his coaches at Maurer Coughlin Wrestling Club. He desperately sought answers to how he could overcome his mental block with those one-point matches.
“I told them, I just don’t know how to fix this,” Prechtel said. “I’ve lost my two most important matches of my career by a point. I don’t know how to overcome this.
“So they told me that I’m going to have one point matches. They said I have to go out there and just know that I trained harder than the other guy and I worked harder than he did. I have to have the confidence in those close matches that I am the better wrestler and I am going to win.”
So, this year he’s had that mindset in every match he’s wrestled. He said he treats every match as if it’s the state championship.
“Every match I’m zero and zero and I’m wrestling for a championship,” he said. “This year I have a totally different mindset. It started at the end of the offseason. I’m more confident. In my mind, I know I outwork anyone. I can push myself further than I have before.”
Lee knows that the sky is the limit for Prechtel because of the amount of work he is willing to put in.
“He’s been a captain of this team for three years,” Lee said. “He’s an awesome leader. He leads verbally. He leads by example. He works harder than anyone I have ever coached.”
When he’s not wrestling, Prechtel enjoys hunting, fishing and snow skiing. He plans to wrestle in college and study business management, but he is currently undecided on where he will go.
50869 12023 IndianaMat Hoosier Preseason Open September 10th
Date
September 10, 2023
Registration
Registration is now full
Click here to register on IndianaMat
Click here to view current paid entries
Petition Information
Petitions are closed
Brackets and Streaming
TrackWrestling brackets and streaming
Stud List
Click here for the top wrestlers already registered
Location:
Allen County War Memorial Coliseum
4000 Parnell Ave
Fort Wayne, IN 46805
Event Schedule (Tentative)
Saturday September 9th Weigh-ins
VIP Weigh-ins 2-3pm
Normal Weigh-ins 5-7pm Sunday September 10th Wrestling Session 1
9:00 am-2:00 pm EST
Weights: 109, 123, 141, 147, 168, 193, 288 Wrestling Session 2
1:00-6:00 pm EST
Weights: 116, 129, 135, 153, 160, 178, 218
Weigh-In Information
Saturday September 9th
VIP Weigh-ins 2-3pm
Normal Weigh-ins 5-7pm No Satellite Weigh-ins Weigh-ins will be in a singlet or NFHS approved two-piece uniform No weight change fee Weigh-ins are WHOLE pounds, tenths will count! For example if you weigh 153.3 you will NOT wrestle the 153lbs weight class!
VIP Weigh-In Information
Saturday September 9th
VIP Weigh-ins 2-3pm $20 cash only paid at the door No limit to number of VIP weigh-in athletes
Entry Fee
$40 Registration by September 6th at 10:00pm EST or 825 paid entries, whichever comes first. No membership card is required to wrestle You must pay online by credit card ONLY! There will be no refunds of paid entries. Online registration ONLY will be accepted this year. Registration will be cut off at the first 825 paid entries or September 6th at 10pm ET whichever comes first. Please note we have sold out the past four years. The Tournament Committee will retain the right to add up to an additional 25 wrestlers, at their discretion, via a petition process, after the entry cutoff. Information about the petition process will be posted within a day after registration closes. Once we reach the entry limit registration will be shut down. After that point the ONLY way to enter is through a petition.
Memorial Coliseum Procedures
No charge for parking on Saturday for weigh-ins. Please tell the attendant you are there for wrestling weigh-ins Coolers will be allowed in the athlete lunch area only. Athletes can bring coolers in through the Athlete Entrance ONLY!
Tournament Gear and Apparel
3X Gear is the official gear distributor for the IndianaMat Hoosier Preseason Open. They will be on hand with a full selection of tournament apparel and other wrestling apparel and supplies.
Spectators
$20 per person can be purchased at the door Sunday morning or before session 2.
Age Groups
Students currently enrolled in 7th-12th grades will be wrestling in one division.
Awards
Top 4 will receive medals and the top 4 will qualify for Super 32 early entry
Contact
Joe Caprino
joe@Indianamat.com
Wrestling Information
-Wrestling will take place on Sunday September 10th, 2023
-Weight Classes: 109, 116, 123, 129, 135, 141, 147, 153, 160, 168, 178, 193, 218, 288
-Wrestlers in 7th-12th grade may participate
-Double elimination wrestle-backs to 4th place
-Period lengths Championship 2:00-1:30-1:30 Consolation 2:00-1:00-1:00
-Overtime will be 1 minute sudden victory neutral and 30 second ride-out
-We will seed all wrestlers with specific criteria so please include your state or national credentials when registering
-2022/2023 NFHS rules will be utilized, except the overtime modification
-Wrestling will be on full mats
-Singlet or approved NFHS uniform is required
-College out of bounds rules will be utilized.
-Headgear is not required, but recommended
-Mouthpieces are required if you have braces
-NFHS hair rules will apply
Seeding Information
MatScouts Willie Saylor will seed up to 16 in each weight class. All others with criteria below will be separated beyond the seeded wrestlers.
Each wrestler that qualifies will be given a "Separation Criteria" from the list below. The criteria are ranked in order.
1. Nationally ranked in FloWrestling or MatScouts rankings
2. State Champion/IHPO Champion
3. State 2-3/IHPO 2-4
4. State 4-5
5. State 6-8
6. State Qualifier/IHPO Top 6 or 8
7. Other Credentialed athletes that deserve separation
With these groups we will determine seeds. Here is an example
If we have 2 wrestlers with #1 criteria, 4 with #2, 2 with #3, 2 with #4 and 5 with #5 this is how it will work.
The top two seeds will be the two wrestlers with #1 criteria in a random order
Seeds 3-6 will be the wrestlers with #2 criteria in a random order
Seeds 7-8 wrestlers with #3 criteria in a random order
Seeds 9-10 wrestlers with #4 criteria in a random order
Seeds 11-14 wrestlers with #5 criteria in a random order
The seeds will be determined randomly by TrackWrestling.
Host Hotel
Information coming soon
College Coaches
We will offer a special college coaches package for $50.
You may pay in advance or pay if you are not attending the event and want the entry database using this button
Click here to purchase
The package will include:
Registration list of all high school aged wrestlers with name, address, grade, weight, accomplishments, GPA, and college test scores* Preliminary entry list sent after registration closes Note: Due to coliseum policies you will need to purchase a ticket separately.
*Tournament entry information with addresses and contact information will be sent the week after the event and will have all high school aged wrestlers that opted to have information released to coaches.
Past Results
2022 Results(732 wrestlers from 10 states)
2021 Results(716 wrestlers from 12 states)
2020 Results(707 wrestlers from 16 states)
2019 Results(610 wrestlers from 11 states)
2018 Results(605 wrestlers from 12 states)
2017 Results(607 wrestlers from 10 states)
2016 Results(647 wrestlers from 11 states)
2015 Results(580 wrestlers from 11 states)
2014 Results(586 wrestlers from 14 states)
2013 Results(598 wrestlers from 10 states)
2012 Results(444 wrestlers from 8 states)
2011 Results(254 wrestlers from 9 states)
2010 Results(171 wrestlers from 9 states)
IHSAA Rules
Regarding Coaching at the IHPO
15-2 During School Year Out-of-Season
15-2.1 Individual Sports (Cross Country, Golf, Gymnastics, Swimming, Tennis, Track, Wrestling)
a. Students may participate in non-school contests as individuals or as members of a non-school team in non-school contests provided that participation during school time is approved by the school principal or his/her designee.
b. Coaches, from a member school coaching staff, may coach students in that sport if NOT under the organization, supervision and operation of the member school.
c. Member schools may not organize, supervise or operate athletic practices or interschool athletic contests.
d. Member schools may not provide school-owned uniforms (jerseys, shirts, shorts, pants, singlets, or swimsuits, etc.) worn by the student in non-school contests.
Estimated Future Event Dates
*We try our best to be the weekend after Labor Day
September 7-8, 2024
September 6-7, 2025
September 12-13, 2026
1816 1 3McCutcheon’s Dynamic Duo: Dallinger and Chicoine Build Each Other, Maverick Program Up
By Anna Kayser
The wrestling room at McCutcheon High School has two mats, with practice squads split down the middle by weight. Two mats, working truly in tandem toward both common and individual goals, is the perfect metaphor for the first two returning state placewinners since 2006.
Aiden Dallinger and Cole Chicoine are seniors battling at opposite ends of the Maverick lineup – Dallinger at 120 points and Chicoine at 215. Last season, they became the first McCutcheon state placewinners since 2014 and the first to place earlier than their senior year since junior Travis Dale in 2006.
“Kids need to see an example, and when they see a kid from their school achieve at some of the highest levels, they start to think they can do it too,” McCutcheon head coach Adam Metzger said. “It’s been a huge launching point for our program, and we get to use them as examples in many ways.”
Having not one, but two seniors as focal points for the program has been huge not only in the development of younger wrestlers, but for Dallinger and Chicoine to work as a team in building each other up.
“I think just because we progressed at the same pace, we’re both reaping the same achievements at the same time,” Dallinger said. “I feel like it’s easier when we accomplish them, and it means more because we do it together.”
Both wrestlers have grown in parallel lines to each other since coming into the program as freshman. Young for their age with a lot of room for growth on the mat, they’ve taken each step together. Now, as they’re making their way through the postseason of their senior years, they’re able to cheer each other on.
Their gap in weight classes comes at an advantage. Although the benefits don’t come from on-the-mat head-to-head training, advice is constantly given and received in a way that makes each of them better. They’re able to take the time to be in each other’s corner without having to worry about their own imminent match.
“It definitely helps him keeping me accountable,” Chicoine said. “If I lose a match, I know he’s going to say something about it. If I do something sloppy, he’s going to say something about it… We push each other because we’re both pretty competitive. And since we’re both there, it’s not like one of us is going to fall off because we know the other one’s going to be on our backs about it.”
As sophomores, they each lost in their respective ticket rounds to narrowly miss state bids. Together, by holding each other accountable, they turned those losses into personal success and leadership opportunities.
“They’ve done all of the things we’ve asked them to do in the offseason, they bought into the program that we’re trying to sell them, and they’ve just continued to develop in the mat,” McCutcheon head coach Adam Metzger said. “They’ve [gone from] underdeveloped freshmen to vocal leaders who are just constantly trying to show our kids the path it takes to be successful and get to wrestle at the next level.”
With everything they’ve been able to do in tandem, working as a team to help each other achieve their goals, the effect on younger classes has been huge for the Mavericks.
In the McCutcheon wrestling room, each senior has the opportunity to lead one of the two mats and act as an extension of the coaching staff in building up the program. Their previous success is the perfect resumé for outreach and showing other wrestlers what a tangible path to reaching their goals looks like.
“When me and Aiden [placed at state], we showed that we put in the work and that our coaching staff knew what they were doing. It built confidence,” Chicoine said. “This year, it’s been a lot of teaching some of the younger guys that didn’t necessarily have a lot of success last year but trying to set them up for success not only this year but next year.”
Dallinger added, “To have a high-level on both mats, able to work around and build up our team on both spectrums, I feel like it’s a pretty big advantage.”
Success is contagious, and having seniors that are vocal, willing to teach and setting a good example not only on the mat but in the classroom – according to Metzger, Chicoine was Academic All-State and Dallinger’s SAT score was off the charts – has helped improve the Maverick wrestling program ten-fold.
“This is my fifth year at McCutcheon, and this is by far the biggest freshman class we’ve ever had,” Metzger said. “I think a lot of it has to do with [Aiden and Cole] – they go back to their old middle schools, they’ve worked with and talked to the kids. They do a great job of that outreach and just getting kids excited about our program.”
2528 1 4#MondayMatness with Steve Krah: Union City’s Daniels raises his game, heading to State Finals
By STEVE KRAH
stvkrh905@gmail.com
Bradin Daniels became the first Union City Junior/City wrestler to qualify for the IHSAA State Finals in a dozen years when the junior won the 126-pound title at the 2024 Fort Wayne Semi-State.
Before the Feb. 10 accomplishment, the last Indian to punch his ticket to the state tournament’s last stage was Kyle Walters at 160 in 2011-12, a season in which he want 40-4.
As a Union City assistant coach, Walters has been in Daniels’ corner along with Indians head coach Kevin Lawrence.
“He’s just a hard worker,” says Walters of Daniels. “He’s worked for it all season.”
Away from the mat, Lawrence owns a construction company and Walters is a software engineer.
Because of NBA All-Star Game activities, the site of the State Finals has been moved this year from Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis to the Ford Center in Evansville.
The first round is Friday, Feb. 16. There will be two sessions (152-285 and 106-144). First-round survivors compete Saturday, Feb. 17.
Daniels heads to the Pocket City at 38-2 on the season.
Union City is a Randolph County school with an enrollment around 250.
“I did it for these guys over here,” says Daniels, who pointed to the UC faithful that came to cheer Saturday at Allen County Memorial Coliseum and saw him defeat NorthWood junior Will Hahn (pin in 2:42), Marion freshman Hixon Love (6-0 decision), Delta senior Neal Mosier (6-5 overtime decision) and Jay County senior Cody Rowles (8-4 decision). “I did it for my coaches. I did it for me. I did it for my family (including parents Devon and Samantha Daniels and brothers Gage and Blayne).
“They all knew I had it in me. This year it changed.”
Says Lawrence, “it was more the way he wrestled. He’s more patient now then he was before. He now knows that all he has to do is win a match. He doesn’t necessarily have to do it all in the first period.
“He can wrestle a three-period match now and go six minutes.”
Daniels said he became serious about wrestle in sixth grade.
“I placed second at Middle School State and I was like ‘Wow!,’” says Daniels. “My freshman year I missed weight at sectional and last year I got in my head because I had to face the No. 1 seed.”
Daniels gave himself a pep talk going into 2023-24.
“I told myself there’s nothing stopping me this year,” says Daniels. “You’re going to go and win it whether you like it or not.”
Gage and Blayne Daniels both wrestled for UC.
“They’re over there rooting me on,” says Bradin. “They tell me that no matter what else is going on, just wrestle.”
Other season highlights for the youngest Daniels boy include winning his second Tri-Eastern Conference championship (pinning Winchester junior Isaiah Spurlin in the finals) and placing first for the second straight Bill Kerbel Invitational at New Haven (beating Northfield freshman Elijah Gahl by 13-0 major decision for the crown).
Daniels also earned his first Jay County Sectional title (besting Rowles 4-0 in the championship bout). He placed second at the Jay County Regional (losing to Rowles by fall in the finals) then won the Fort Wayne Semi-State.
As a sophomore, Daniels was a sectional runner-up and came in fourth at regional and did not place at semi-state.
Bradin came in third at the past two East Central Indiana Classic tournaments.
“He’s always had the ability,” says Lawrence. “Little things here and there he was able to put together this year.
“That’s been the difference.”
The past two seasons, Daniels competed at 126. He began the current season at 132, but continued to lose weight and went back to 126.
Union City’s Matt Taylor placed fourth at the State Finals in 1991.
Besides Taylor in 1990 and Walters in 2012, other state qualifiers include Kyle Anderson in 2007, Zach Woodbury in 2004, Jim Garrett in 1992 and Rob Bousman in 1987.
2814 1 1#WrestlingWednesday with Jeremy Hines: Amberger breaks Batesville's 31 year qualifier drought
By JEREMY HINES
Thehines7@gmail.com
This Valentine’s Day Max Amberger has a lesson for all the fellas out there. Nice guys don’t always finish last.
Amberger, whom coach Matt Linkel says is one of the nicest kids he knows, is getting the royal treatment in Batesville this week. On Saturday he became the first Bulldog wrestler to advance to the state tournament since 1993.
“This has been a pretty awesome week for him,” Linkel said. “The wrestling program has really come to life through this. He got a police escort in town when he returned from semistate. The school has posters of him up. The administration is overly thrilled for him and are trying to get as many people as possible that want to go see him wrestle at state the ability to do so. They also announced him at the basketball game. The whole town seems to be behind him.”
For Amberger, who’s a reserved and quiet person, the sudden popularity has been fun to take in.
“Everyone has been congratulating me,” Amberger said. “A lot of people I don’t normally talk to have been coming up and telling me good job.”
Amberger wasn’t exactly a favorite to reach the state tournament. The junior heavyweight is unranked in the state and was ranked just 8th in the New Castle semistate. He won his sectional, but then lost in the regional championship the next week.
“I like being the underdog,” Amberger said. “But I knew what I was capable of. I knew I could beat some of the kids in the semistate. I was excited for the opportunity to prove what I could do.”
Amberger took on Frankton’s Ty Everson in the opening round of the New Castle semistate. He controlled the match and won 9-1 to set up his ticket round match.
Entering the ticket round there was a lot of pressure on Amberger. Since the beginning of the season coaches had told Amberger that it had been 31 years since a Bulldog wrestler had advanced to state – and they thought he could be the man to end that drought.
“For a high school kid, that’s a lot of pressure,” Linkel said. “He’s handled that well. We kept telling him about how it was 31 years since anyone punched their ticket to state. But Max is always so calm and composed, I don’t think he felt that pressure. He just said he wasn’t doing this for himself, this is for his team, his friends and his family.”
Amberger went up against Greenfield Central senior Brayden Flener in the ticket round. The two battled back and forth, but Amberger emerged with a 5-2 victory to punch his ticket.
“I knew he was a big guy that would try and throw me,” Amberger said. “I was keeping my hips back and trying not to get thrown. I ended up putting him on his back and they called the pin – but the call got reversed because it was an illegal headlock. I was, thankfully, able to still secure the win.
“It was a great feeling winning that match. I had a lot of friends and family there and the best moment was walking up and seeing all of them. That was one of the biggest crowds I have ever wrestled in front of.”
Friday night Amberger is matched up with Center Grove senior Nate Johnson. Johnson is ranked No. 4 in the weight class with a 23-1 record.
“All of my family and friends and some of my teammates are going down to watch me,” Amberger said. “I should have a lot of supporters there. I can’t wait to see how it is and to wrestle in front of that crowd.”
Amberger is on the smaller side for the heavyweight division. He relies on quickness rather than on brute strength. But, he’s also a concrete worker during his free time for his father’s company. He has endurance and can outlast a lot of his opponents.
“Max is a quiet, loyal kid,” Linkel said. “He’s a great team leader by example. A lot of kids look up to him. He has great grades and he works hard in every aspect of his life. He’s one of the hardest workers I know. He works in a concrete business anytime he can. I know a lot of his toughness comes from that.”
Amberger’s favorite sport is football. He helped lead Batesville to a sectional championship as a starting lineman.
“I love football because it’s a team sport,” Amberger said. “I always put the team first. I guess that’s just part of my personality.”
After high school Amberger plans to either go to a trade school or join his father’s business.
2898#WrestlingWednesday Feature: Kieffers Overcome Opponents On and Off the Mat
Brought to you by EI Sports
By JEREMY HINES
jerhines@cinergymetro.net
Wrestlers live for the sensation of having their hands raised in victory. It’s the ultimate expression of success. It signifies that on that day, in that moment, they were better than the opponent standing across from them.
Joe Kieffer raised his hand in victory a final time on October 29th. It wasn’t on the mat, it was in a hospital. Joe raised his hand high, clinched his fist and rang a bell on the wall at Riley Hospital that signified Joe had completed his fight against cancer. It was a moment that took three years to achieve. Ringing that bell gave Joe his life back.
To understand how significant ringing the bell that October day was, you have to know what Joe went through to get to that point.
Kieffer is the youngest son of parents Kevin and Jenny. His twin brothers, Josh and Justin are both collegiate wrestlers. Joe was following in their footsteps. All of the Kieffer brothers were exceptional wrestlers for Roncalli high school.
“Joe, before leukemia, was a great wrestler with the same potential both of his brothers had,†Roncalli coach Lance Ellis said. “He lost his freshman year in semistate. He got caught with a headlock his sophomore year. In his junior season he was involved in the most controversial match I’ve ever seen in my life. He was winning and the clock went off and he stopped and a guy jumped on him. I’ve never seen anything like it. We were hoping for a possible state title that year.â€
But soon Joe’s wrestling career wouldn’t matter much anymore.
After his junior year he was competing at freestyle state and he kept feeling winded and very tired. That was not typical for an athlete of Joe’s caliber. He didn’t think too much of it though, and went on to wrestle at central regionals.
“I got beat up and I looked terrible out there,†Joe said. “I could hardly practice. I was very weak. We just thought I had mono.â€
Things got even worse at Disney Duals. Joe’s body simply would not allow him to compete at the level he was accustomed to.
The Kieffer family took a small break from wrestling and went on a fishing trip to Minnesota. Joe’s condition continued to get worse.
“I came home and went to the doctor,†Joe said. “The doctor wanted to put me on anti-stress relievers. Stress can sometimes cause some of the same symptoms. But when they checked my blood, a few hours later they told me I had leukemia.â€
At first Joe didn’t comprehend the severity of his diagnosis.
“My first thought was that this wasn’t happening,†he said. “It was unreal. It didn’t even hit me that it was cancer at the moment. Then, the whole thought of dying started to set in. I didn’t realize how serious it really was.â€
The diagnosis immediately ended Joe’s wrestling dreams.
Justin and Josh were told the news that day.
“I had just left for college,†Justin said. “It was my first period of time away from the house in my life. I was close to home, but I had moved out. Wrestling and college had picked up, and when I learned it was so hard to wrap my head around everything that was going on in my life. I was trying to balance that horrible news as well as all these new challenges in my own life. It was almost impossible for me to think about anything but Joe.â€
After the initial shock of his diagnosis, Joe approached his battle with cancer just like he did with his opponents on the mat. He went on the attack and refused to be defeated.
Joe started chemotherapy treatments almost immediately. But because of his extensive battle with leukemia, he was forced to drop out of school at Roncalli.
“Physically the hardest part was the very beginning,†Joe said. “I pretty much lost all mobility from the waist down. I had no strength in my legs. I couldn’t stand up or walk. I felt crippled and I was in a wheelchair for about a month.
“But by far the most difficult part was the mental aspect. I felt secluded from the whole world. My immune system was so weak, I could not go to school. I couldn’t have visitors. If I talked to my friends, it had to be over the phone or through texts. I was extremely lonely.â€
Although he was lonely, Joe was far from being alone. The entire wrestling community rallied around the Kieffer family. They participated in charity golf outings and other fund raising events to help pay for Joe’s treatments. Messages poured in from coaches and wrestlers from around the state.
“The whole wrestling community really stepped up,†Ellis said. “So many people who had no real ties to Joe stepped in to help. I remember New Castle coach Rex Peckinpaugh bringing me a museum of stuff to raffle off to raise money for Joe. It was like a whole collection that would take someone 30 years to collect. He handed over stuff I didn’t want to give up. But he did it to help Joe. So many people stepped up like that.â€
After nine months of treatment Joe surprised everyone and returned to school, and to wrestling. He was still going to chemotherapy once a month, and his body was nowhere near at the strength level it once was, but he didn’t care.
“I only wrestled four matches the whole year,†Joe said. “But that didn’t matter. My best moment in my wrestling career came on my first match back. For me it was an extremely tough match, and I ended up winning. All the emotion of where I had came from to get back to that point really overwhelmed me. Our team was cheering and even the other team knew what that win meant for me.â€
Justin was happy for the win, but it was hard for him to watch.
“When he won, I had this weird feeling,†Justin said. “I was very happy for him. It was a long time coming. But it was weird seeing him out there looking the way he did. It was hard to see kids give Joe a good match when I knew Joe would dominate those same kids before cancer.â€
Joe would not win another match in his high school career. That didn’t matter — because he was still battling the one opponent he wanted to beat more than anyone. His fight with cancer was not done.
Joe and cancer went toe-to-toe for three long, grueling years. There were periods of time when cancer seemed to have the advantage. But Joe never quit. He never gave in.
“This has opened my eyes to so many things outside of wrestling,†Joe said. “Before leukemia, wrestling was my priority. Now I want to do things for others. My whole lifestyle is different now. My priorities are different.
“But I know wrestling helped me in this journey. In wrestling you don’t quit. You have to be a fighter. Wrestling toughened me up and helped me be mentally tough enough to fight this disease.â€
As Joe battled cancer, he would see others ring the bell on the wall at Riley Hospital. He couldn’t wait until he got his turn.
On October 29th, he did just that. Surrounded by friends, family and the doctors he had grown to love at Riley — Joe rang the bell. His treatments were officially over. Joe had won the most important battle of his young life.
Joe is now 21 years old. He will go to the University of Indianapolis, where his brothers wrestle, and study supply chain management. He wants to get into a logistics firm. He also has applied to be on a fire department, because he knows he will always have a strong desire to help others.
He is healthy now. He’s not as strong as he wants to be yet, but he’s getting there.
Joe’s journey has changed many around him, including his brother and his high school coach.
“Joe’s battle has taught me a lot,†Justin said. “I take every day as it comes and thank God I’m here on this world. It has helped me get closer to God and my family. I want to cherish every moment I have with them.â€
Ellis, who won four state championships in his Indiana high school career before taking the coaching helm at Roncalli, says watching Joe go through what he did was one of the toughest things he’s ever endured.
“Honestly, this was the hardest thing I ever went through,†Ellis said. “But you learn you can’t take anything for granted. Love your family. Love your kids. Live your life the best you can.â€
If you have a feature story idea about Indiana wrestling, please email jerhines@cinergymetro.net.
5186#WrestlingWednesday Feature: Prairie Heights Resurgence Orchestrated by a Basketball Player
Brought to you by EI Sports
By JEREMY HINES
jerhines@cinergymetro.net
Four years ago Prairie Heights High School needed a wrestling coach. Applicants weren’t exactly lining up at the door to take over a program that had fallen on hard times.
So the school’s athletic director approached an unlikely candidate — a former basketball player named Brett Smith.
Smith, who teaches at the school district’s middle school, had no wrestling experience. He was related to the former wrestling coach, and had helped kids with lifting weights and staying in shape in the offseason. That was the extent of his wrestling knowledge.
He didn’t shy away from the challenge. Smith told the athletic director he would take the job, but he needed to be able to hire the best assistant coaches he could find.
Smith called brothers John and Mike Levitz, two of Prairie Heights greatest former wrestlers. John had set nearly all of the Panther’s wrestling records, until Mike came along and broke them. Smith remembers watching the Levitz brothers wrestle in high school. He knew they were the right people for the job.
There was one more piece to the puzzle Smith was trying to assemble, and the Levitz brothers knew exactly what that was. They called their old high school coach Lee Fry and talked him out of retirement to join in their campaign.
The first year together the Panthers finished the season with a miserable 12-17 record. The next year they had raised their mark to .500 at 16-16. Last year the team posted a winning record at 17-12.
This year the Panthers are 21-2 and are the top-seeded Class A team going in to this weekend’s team state tournament.
It hasn’t been an easy road, by any means, but the kids have bought into the coaches’ system.
“I think one of the main things that has helped us is that we do everything the wrestlers do,†Smith said. “We do the same lifting and running. The kids see us busting our butts with them, and that pushes them to do the same. They work hard because they can see us working hard for them.â€
Mike and John started coaching kids in their basement several years ago. They had purchased old wrestling mats from a barn nearby. It took hours to clean the mats enough to get them in usable shape. They put them in John’s basement and started working with kids. At first it was just John’s sons Doug (junior, 145 lbs) and Jed (freshman, 160 lbs). But soon the workouts in their basement grew to over 20 kids.
“Wrestling is just about life for our family,†John said. “My brothers and I, we lived wrestling. When Mike graduated, we were lost. Our parents were lost. We needed wrestling back in our lives.â€
Now wrestling is once again a large part of the Levitz’s daily routine. John’s sons both wrestle, as does Mike’s sons Isiah, Sam and Matt. Mike’s sons are not in high school yet, but they are all dedicated to the sport.
“Wrestling has taught me so much for life,†Mike said. “It taught hard work and dedication. Wrestling is a family thing. Everyone in the sport is tight.â€
Prairie Heights is a small farming community. That’s a key to the wrestling success as well, according to Smith.
“We’re just a small farm town,†Smith said. “But all the kids have grown up to be hard workers because of that. We know the kids work hard, and we know their parents work hard. And work ethic in the wrestling room has been what has led us to the success we’re having.â€
The Panthers have goals this year of winning the Northeast Corner Conference, winning team state, and sending at least one wrestler to Banker’s Life Fieldhouse for the wrestling state finals. In their four years of coaching together, they have not had a wrestler go to state yet.
“We have the potential to change that this year,†John said. “I’d love to see us get more than one there this year.â€
A former basketball player, a retired coach and a couple of brothers who hadn’t coached high school wrestling before isn’t the typical recipe for success on the mats. But it works for Prairie Heights. The team wouldn’t want it any other way.
3366#WrestlingWednesday Feature: From Rivals to Training Partners
Brought to you by EI Sports
By JEREMY HINES
jerhines@cinergymetro.net
East Noble seniors Connor Knapp and Garrett Pepple weren’t exactly friends their freshman year. In fact, they didn’t even like each other much.
The two were competing for the same varsity spot at 106 pounds. It was a position they both wanted badly. Ultimately, Knapp won the weight class and Pepple spent most of the season on the junior varsity squad. Knapp went on to qualify for state as a freshman.
“My goal going into my freshman year was to qualify for state,†Pepple said. “I wanted to have a good record, too. But we had a solid team and I only weighed about 100 pounds. I had multiple chances to earn a spot. Connor and I wrestled off once, and he beat me. Then I went up to 113 pounds and I won the spot, until our 120 pounder dropped down and took it from me.
“When you compete for a spot with someone it’s hard to be close friends. There was a little hate between us.â€
The next year, things changed. Knapp moved up to 113 pounds and Pepple stayed at 106. The two were no longer competing for the same spot, and they started to become friends.
That season Pepple made a huge stride. He went from a JV wrestler the year before, to finishing second in the state as a sophomore. Knapp placed 4th.
“At first we didn’t really talk much at all,†Knapp said. “But the next year we started to become friends. We started training together. Now he’s like my brother.â€
The two seniors began pushing each other to get better. Pepple is considered a very good top wrestler, and Knapp needed work on bottom. Pepple’s top work helped.
“Garrett is really good on top,†Knapp said. “A lot of the stuff he does is what some of the top guys I go up against are going to do. He gives me a good idea of how to counter things. Pretty much in every position there are certain things he can do that normal wrestlers wouldn’t have the confidence to do. We both have our advantages and that helps push both of us.â€
As juniors Pepple placed second at 113 pounds. Knapp finished third at 120.
“After finishing second my sophomore year I was happy with that,†Pepple said. “Maybe I was even a little complacent. But my junior year, my goal was a state championship and nothing else. Placing second still haunts me. I don’t want it to happen again.â€
Pepple says he has been much more focused this season. He is the No. 1 ranked 113 pounder in the state.
“There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think of what it could be like to win a state championship,†Pepple said. “My dream, my goal is to be a state champ. That’s all I can think about. I’ve visualized myself winning so many times. I walk around my room just thinking about it for hours. I have even planned my celebration if I win. It won’t be anything cocky, but I’ll definitely celebrate if I can win it.â€
Both wrestlers are pushing each other to get better in the room. East Noble has had only one state champion before. Pepple and Knapp wants to change that.
“Iron sharpens iron,†Pepple said. “It’s great to have such a tough drill partner who is going to push you to be your best.â€
Outside of school Knapp loves to draw action pictures. It’s a talent not many know about. He is also an elementary school teaching assistant. He works one-on-one with children, and he said it’s something he absolutely loves doing. As far as the future, he is still trying to decide what he wants to do.
“I’m trying to decide on whether I want to wrestle in college or not,†Knapp said. “I’d like to be a Force Recon Marine. I’ve dreamed about that my whole life. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do. Now I think, why not – I have the tools.â€
Pepple plans to attend Indiana University where he wants to wrestle. He is either going into the medical field, business or education.
Pepple says the biggest turning point so far in his career was when he shattered his lower leg playing sharks and minnows in practice before his freshman season. He broke two bones, and had to have multiple screws put in along with a metal plate to stabilize it.
“I didn’t know if I’d ever wrestle again,†he said. “But I worked hard and came back. That showed me I can overcome anything.â€
Both wrestlers are hoping they can overcome all of the obstacles the state tournament presents, and stand together as state champions.
If you have a #WrestlingWednesday idea, please contact Jeremy Hines at jerhines@cinergymetro.net.
1770#WrestlingWednesday Feature: Hudkins Overcoming Injuries to Succeed
Brought to you by EI Sports
By JEREMY HINES
jerhines@cinergymetro.net
Brock Hudkins is hoping his bad luck is finally behind him.
The Danville junior 120-pounder has had untimely illnesses and injuries throughout his career. He broke his hand as a freshman, suffered from a severe case of dehydration at the state tournament as a sophomore and just recently recovered from a fractured finger.
“Brock really has had a lot of bad luck,†Danville coach Steve Pugliese said. “He broke his hand his freshman year, and then he was sick at weigh-ins at state and couldn’t wrestle as a sophomore. This year he was working out on a Friday and ended up smashing his finger severely and had to lose a month of the season.
“But he doesn’t let it affect him. “He understands that as long as he’s OK for the state tournament series, he can be a force.â€
When he has been on the wrestling mats, he’s been dominate. He missed a month of this season, but has advanced to Saturday’s Evansville semistate with a perfect record. Hudkins is currently 25-0 on the year.
Hudkins started the season out as the No. 1 ranked 120-pounder in the state. Currently he is ranked fifth.
As a freshman Hudkins finished fifth at 106 pounds.
“I went into my high school career with the goal of winning four championships,†Hudkins said. “I finished fifth as a freshman. Everyone was telling me that fifth was a big deal. They would congratulate me on winning regional and semistate. But that wasn’t good enough for me. I wanted a state title.
“I felt like I let myself down. I set my sights on winning the next year, but the cards didn’t play in my favor at all when I got sick at weigh-ins. But now, it’s all I think about. I want more than anything to get under those lights.â€
While most high school juniors enjoy video games, movies and having fun – Hudkins said his fun is wrestling. There is nothing else.
“I completely believe that,†Pugliese said. “He has earned his success. He is always training. When he says he doesn’t do anything else, it’s true. He’s not just saying that. I think in the summer he probably wrestled 50 matches across the country and I don’t think he got beat.â€
Hudkins has a total of three losses in high school, yet he knew there were plenty of things to improve upon. According to Pugliese, he’s done that.
“He has gotten a lot better on his feet,†Pugliese said. “We work on that 90 percent of our practice time, and it’s really showing now.â€
Pugliese feels that wrestlers at the elite level that Hudkins is at, have a certain quality that most wrestlers don’t exhibit.
“When I took this job, Hudkins was in fourth grade,†Pugliese said. “Everyone talked about him and talked about him. Finally, when I saw him compete I found out why they were hyping him so much.
“For him, like a lot of elite wrestlers, attitude is everything. He gets out in front of a bunch of people, and he doesn’t care. He doesn’t care who’s watching him. He knows what he can do. He knows he’s earned his success. He knows he deserves to win the match.â€
Pugliese also said that Hudkins is never arrogant or cocky about his abilities.
Hudkins truly loves wrestling.
“I love everything about it,†he said. “It’s fun. It’s the main reason why I wrestle. But I also love competing against other people. You don’t have to rely on teammates. It’s you and one guy in the middle of the mat going at it. Best man wins.â€
After high school Hudkins hopes to wrestle for a Division 1 school. He is still contemplating his educational goals, but he’s narrowed it down to either a lawyer, a physical trainer or an engineer.
Hudkins will face Evansville Memorial sophomore Nolan Schaefer (27-18) in the first round of the Evansville semistate on Saturday.
If you have a #WrestlingWednesday feature idea, please contact Jeremy Hines at jerhines@cinergymetro.net.
2487#WrestlingWednesday Feature: Coast to Coast Path for Kevin Lake
Brought to you by EI Sports
By JEREMY HINES
Thehines7@gmail.com
MANCHESTER – Kevin Lake wasn’t a great wrestler back at New Haven High School. He was just a one-time regional qualifier. But what Lake lacked in wrestling success, he has made up for in coaching success. He has found his calling in coaching the sport he loves.
“I was very average in high school and college,†Lake said. “But I felt like I blossomed as a coach after traveling around and learning from some of the best coaches out there. I was always a mat rat. I was always in the coaches’ rooms trying to learn more about the sport. When you become a coach, you learn things better than when you are an athlete. You get a different perspective.â€
Lake was recently hired as the new head wrestling coach at Manchester University. While he doesn’t have the athletic pedigree some coaches have, Lake has certainly immersed himself in learning the sport of wrestling.
Lake grew up in a coaches’ home. His dad, Gary, was a long time football coach at New Haven, Ft. Wayne Wayne and Ft. Wayne Elmhurst.
“Coaching was a big part of my childhood,†Lake said. “Some of my fondest memories are with my dad in the locker rooms and on the sports field. Sports really played a huge role in my life.â€
Gary Lake is a member of the Manchester Hall of Fame. So is Kevin’s twin sister, Leanne.
“My sister was a much better athlete than me,†Lake said. “She played basketball and softball at Manchester. She’s also in the Hall of Fame there. I’m the only one not in the Hall of Fame. I guess my only shot now is to get there by coaching.â€
Lake wrestled at Manchester under coach Tom Jarman. Lake refers to Jarman as a legend in the coaching world and as a mentor.
After graduating from Manchester, Lake pursued his graduate degree at Central Michigan University. There he got involved with the wrestling program, and was able to learn from coach Tom Borrelli.
“Central Michigan is really where I got the confidence and understanding of what it took to become a high level wrestling coach,†Lake said. “Even today, what I bring to the table is a lot of what I learned as a graduate assistant.â€
Lake took his first head coaching job at Division III, Mac Murray in Jacksonville, Ill. That job became a spring board to go to Princeton University as the head assistant coach.
I coached an All-American there in Greg Parker,†Lake said.
After Princeton, Lake spent a year at South Dakota State and worked with coach Jason Liles – who was an extremely successful Division II coach working his first job in Division I.
Lake’s travels didn’t end there, however. That summer he got a call from a good friend, Shawn Charles, who was just hired as the head coach at Fresno State in California. Lake became his head assistant and moved his family out west.
Fresno State dropped its wrestling program after just two years.
Lake got out of the college coaching realm for a while at that point. He joined Beat the Streets in Los Angeles, a program that helps teach responsibility and values through wrestling.
“I always had coaching in my heart and in my blood,†Lake said. “I knew if the right opportunity came up, I’d take it. That’s when the job at Manchester came open and I jumped at the chance.â€
Lake is married with two daughters. He moved to Manchester about a month ago, and recently his daughters saw snow for the first time.
“The snow was like one of those slaps in the face welcome homes,†Lake said. “I didn’t realize how soft I had gotten. The snow is beautiful, but man is it cold.â€
Lake believes he has taken a little bit from each coach he worked with or was coached by over the years.
“At Central Michigan I learned how to lead and how to run practices,†Lake said. “My time at Fresno State I learned under one of the best technicians in the sport. Shawn Charles taught me knowledge and technique.
“At Princeton, the philosophy of Princeton athletics as a whole really related to how I want my athletes to be. It was a value of higher education and pursuit of excellence that I really liked.â€
At Manchester, Lake knows the program isn’t going to become a national powerhouse overnight. But he wants his athletes to all be high achievers in athletics, character and wrestling.
“I want them to be the best in the classroom, on the mats and to act with class on the streets,†Lake said.
Lake said when looking for wrestlers for his program, he looks for kids with a workmanlike attitude. He likes aggressiveness – guys that will push the pace and also have good defensive skills. He wants smart wrestlers with strong core values.
“I look for effort, too,†Lake said. “Often times you can tell more about how a kid comes back from barely losing a match. You can tell if he’s hungry and has something to prove. Those are the kids that I think can thrive. I want those type of kids.â€
3719#MondayMatness: Adam O'Neil Takes Over at Clay
By STEVE KRAH
stvkrh905@gmail.com
“Who wants to learn?â€
Adam O’Neil invites his athletes to one side of the South Bend Clay High School wrestling room.
There, the second person ever to win an IHSAA state mat title for the Colonials (Randy Goss was the first in 1964 and 1965) shares his knowledge as Clay’s first-year head wrestling coach.
A little later, O’Neil gets in front of the group and tells them about stance.
“Keep your chest up,†O’Neil tells them. “I don’t want hunching down, alright? We don’t want to see the Hunchback of Notre Dame.
After all, an opponent can control, if a wrestler is hunched over.
O’Neil also instructs his Clay grapplers how to sprawl and demonstrates with a series of “burpeesâ€.
But he stresses the basics.
“Even the best guys have to do the basics,†says O’Neil. “We’ll get into the flow of the different moves and when we do them later.
“I can only teach them what I know.â€
What O’Neil knew when he wore a Colonial singlet was strength and a solid stance and form and loads of mat know-how gained from coach Al Hartman, an Indiana High School Wrestling Coaches Association Hall of Famer.
It helped O’Neil win 154 matches. He went 45-0 as a senior in 2003-04, reigning as the 160-pound state champion.
That season, O’Neil tied for first in single-season wins with Jaylin Allen, Shakir Carr, Joe Gallegos, Mitchell Hartman and Laquan Lunfiord. Gallegos and Allen were state runners-up in 2012 and 2013, respectively.
O’Neil set Clay school records with 26 pins in both the 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons.
Any one of those accomplishments should give the 30-year-old instant credibility with these teenagers. But O’Neil doesn’t see it that way.
“I still need to prove myself to them,†says O’Neil, who went into this season ranked No. 4 on Clay’s all-time win list (behind Mitchell Hartman’s 164, Jake Hartman’s 156 and Steve Salinas’ 156. Places 5 through 12 were held by Kevin Hartman, 145; Gallegos 142; Lunsford, 121; Ryan Salata, 114; Garret Gleuckert, 112; Jeremy Burnside, 112; David Elliot, 109; and Dustin Swindeman, 108). “One of my biggest challenges is getting all the kids in here at the same time and getting them to listen. I want them to focus and listen to what I’m saying. If they are not listening, they are not absorbing.
“I’m only here a couple of hours a day with them. I try to have them learn as much as I can.â€
After two seasons as a Clay assistant, O’Neil has taken over the reigns of the program from Hartman (who is still involved, mostly at the junior high level).
“It’s been a dream of mine to coach wrestling,†says O’Neil. “When I had the opportunity, I took it. Coach Hartman really helped me prepare for it. He pushed me to do it.â€
A frozen foods frozen manager for Martin’s Supermarkets during the day, O’Neil relies on assistant coach and Clay teacher Jay Love to take care of administrative details and monitor the wrestlers during the school day.
“He helps me out a lot,†says O’Neil of Love. “He does paperwork and helps me recruit kids.â€
Love also helps teach the sport to the Colonials.
The lessons have yielded a 9-1 start to 2015-16 season (5-0 at the South Bend Clay Super Dual and 4-1 at the Elkhart Central Turkey Duals).
O’Neil said he considers two-time semistate qualifier Rishod Cotton plus Mason Cao and Andrew Taborn to be his top three wrestlers as the season begins. But it’s steady improvement from he group that he seeks.
“Seeing them get better everyday is what I want,†says O’Neil.
Before the practice closes, O’Neil gets his wrestlers in a circle for a chant.
When the volume and enthusiasm are not right, he yells, “That was weak. Get back here.â€
Then they do it to O’Neil’s satisfaction: “Clay on 3. 1, 2, 3, Clay!â€
4066#WrestlingWednesday Feature: Darren Elkins Goes From State Champ to UFC Star
Brought to you by EI Sports
By JEREMY HINES
Thehines7@gmail.com
There were times growing up as a wrestler in Portage that Darren Elkins wished he could have punched his opponent in the teeth.
The 2004 state champion never acted on those impulses in high school. Now he makes a living trying to knock guys out. Elkins is a seasoned mixed martial arts fighter who is currently ranked No. 12 in the world in the UFC featherweight division. Elkins was the first featherweight to win five consecutive fights.
“I always tell people this,†said Elkins. “I like to get wrestlers into the gym and I tell them why I like MMA. I think back to all the times in wrestling when I was like, man, I just want to punch this guy. Maybe he was taking cheap shots at me, or elbowing me. There was nothing I could do about it then. But now, if I want to punch my opponent, that’s encouraged. They pay me to do it.â€
In 2004 Elkins was one of a host of state champions that went on to have great careers after high school. The list of state champions that year include Angel Escobedo (won an NCAA championship), Reece Humphrey (on the USA wrestling team), Elkins, Matt Coughlin and Alex Tsirtsis. Eric McGill, another former Indiana great, was a runner-up that year.
Elkins credits his wrestling background, and the mentality he got from coach Ed Pendowski at Portage, for part of his MMA success.
“Wrestling teaches you to train hard,†Elkins said. “I’ve always put in the work. I put in the time training and each fight I strive to be better than I was before. I think the grinding style we had at Portage transferred to MMA very well. Coach Pendowski was all about takedowns. We would take people down, then let them up. In MMA you want those takedowns but you aren’t staying on the guys because they can get you in a submission.â€
He also credits some of his toughness from growing up with an older brother, Rickie, who was a state runner-up in high school.
“Rickie was always bigger than me,†Darren said. “He always got the best of me. He was ranked No. 1 in high school in his weight class. It wasn’t until I took on fighting and he started getting out of shape a little that I could beat him.â€
Elkins has a professional record of 20-5. He is hoping to get back in the UFC Octagon soon. Right now he trains six days a week in Indiana. Before his last fight, a unanimous decision over Rob Whiteford in UFC Fight Night in October, Elkins had trained in Sacramento with Team Alpha Male.
Elkins is hoping to climb back in to the top 10 rankings, a place he has been before.
“Right now it’s just about climbing back into that top 10,†he said.
Although Elkins says having a wrestling foundation is a huge asset in MMA, you have to be able to develop more skills to be successful.
“You really have to develop your all around fighting techniques,†he said. “You can’t just rely on wrestling.â€
Elkins also knows the importance of staying healthy. He does not eat processed food. He cuts down on sugar and salt and only eats organic. That has helped with maintaining his weight for fights.
As far as athletic highlights, Elkins doesn’t have one favorite.
“I’ve had so many great moments, and I really don’t put one over the other,†he said. “Winning state was one of my best moments. It was something I dreamed of since I was 5-years-old. Then, getting called to fight in the UFC, and then winning in the UFC. Those are all very great memories for me.â€
Elkins is married and has an 8-year-old daughter and a 5-year-old son. His daughter swims competitively and his son has started wrestling.
“Right now it’s his first year,†Elkins said. “I don’t want to push him. I want him to enjoy it. Right now my daughter goes to practices too because she said if my son gets to wrestle, she does too.â€
2789#WrestlingWednesday Feature: Kadin Poe Back on the Mat
Brought to you by EI Sports
By JEREMY HINES
Thehines7@gmail.com
In an instance Kadin Poe went from a wrestling standout, to someone broken so badly he wasn’t sure he’d be able to wrestle again.
It happened on a Monday evening in May, near Murray St., in Indianapolis. Poe and his friend Kyle Dicecco were just walking home. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, a dark colored Chrysler 300 came barreling down the street, right into Poe. He hit the windshield and landed on the side of the road. The car never stopped. To this day, the driver’s identity is not known.
But what is known is that Poe, who had qualified for the IHSAA state championships as a wrestler earlier in the year, was now in a battle for his life. He had a broken neck, a concussion, his eyes were swollen, his hands and back were scraped badly.
“I was just walking to get my book bag from my buddy’s house,†Poe said. “He lived two streets over at the time. I was walking back with him. I stopped at the stop sign and then a car came and hit me.â€
At first Kyle tried to chase the car down to get more information. But he quickly returned to his friend, picked him up and walked him home. Poe was quickly transported to the hospital, where he spent several days.
Doctors initially weren’t sure if Poe would be able to wrestle again, because of the severity of the neck injury. But soon he was told that he would have no permanent damage. That’s when the recovery began. Poe was going to wrestle again – and nothing was standing in his way.
“My mom really helped me more than anything,†Poe said. “She and my coaches pushed me, even when I didn’t want to be pushed.â€
Poe had gained a lot of weight due to the recovery process. At first he wasn’t allowed to exercise, so he sit at home on medication. He quickly got up to over 150 pounds.
“The hardest part of battling back was getting back into shape and getting my weight back down,†Poe said. “A lot of people were doubting me. Everything at that point was just tough.â€
But Poe did make it back. This season he opened the year wrestling a match at 138 pound. He pinned his opponent. But in his next match he injured his shoulder and is expected to miss two to three more weeks because of the injury.
He is hoping he can be back sooner, and be trimmed down to 126 pounds in the process.
“I want to win a state title within the next two years,†Poe, a junior at Decatur Central, said. “Then I want to go on and win nationals in college. I will bounce back from this.â€
Poe’s coach, Angelo Roble, believes in his wrestler.
“I remember him sitting in the hospital with tubes running all through him,†Roble said. “But I never doubted that he would be back because he’s a tough kid. What makes him a great wrestler isn’t as much his technique, as it is his fight. He hates to lose more than he loves to win.â€
Poe believes going through this adversity has just fueled his desire to get stronger, and better on the mat.
“It’s been a real struggle,†he said. “At first I was starting to think my career was over. And now I’m back to wrestling. It hasn’t been easy, but I’m back.â€
Roble credits Poe’s mentality for his rapid progression.
“Anything this kid puts his mind to, he does well,†Roble said. “We do a lot of things to have fun in practice, like playing football. He always wants to be the quarterback. He wants to have the ball if he is playing basketball and in the wrestling room he wants center circle so everyone knows it’s his room. I hope that attitude carries over to everything in life. All he has to do is put in the effort and he will be successful.â€
2495#MondayMatness: Demien Visualizes Himself on Top
By STEVE KRAH
stvkrh905@gmail.com
Tanner DeMien likes to see his success even before he achieves it.
The NorthWood High School sophomore wrestler has learned to use visualization to take him to the next level. As a freshman, he placed seventh at the IHSAA State Finals at 106 pounds and his sights are set even higher this winter.
“I see myself running through my moves and getting my hand raised,†DeMien said. “I think about previous matches and how I can fix those mistakes.â€
Fourth-year NorthWood head coach Damon Hummel said DeMien has gotten better in many aspects of wrestling, but it is between the ears where he has shown the most improvement.
Hummel said DeMien gets the mental game.
“He understands how to go into a tournament (with four or five matches) and mentally prepare himself,†Hummel said. “Kids have a tendency to wear themselves out by the end of the day. He prepares himself to be better at the end of the day.â€
With his wrestling I.Q., Tanner is able to diagnose his issues about as quickly as Hummel and his staff.
“He’s been around wrestling enough that he knows what to do and what not to do,†Hummel said. “He picks himself apart more than most coaches do.â€
Between matches at a super dual, Tanner will go into a quiet place and do visualization exercises and run the halls to keep his heart rate up.
These are lessons that Tanner has learned from the many camps and off-season programs — he toured the western U.S. with the Ohio All-Star Travel Wrestling Team for 45 days last summer — he’s attended.
Tanner, 16, is thankful for his father, Jason, who got him into wrestling as a 45-pound peewee at around age 6, for his help and guidance.
“He’s a big part of what I am and what I’ve accomplished,†Tanner said of father, who is also a NorthWood volunteer assistant coach. “I give my props to him. He’s been teaching me ever since I can remember.â€
The DeMiens have heard highly-decorated coaches like Dan Gable speak on the importance of visualization.
“A lot of camps we’ve been to have really talked about the mental game,†Jason DeMien said. “It’s seeing the match before you step on the mat.â€
While rotating between 106 and 113 pounds, Tanner has also refined his moves on the mat.
“I’ve gotten better in the top position and I’m able to turn people and put them away,†Tanner said. “It’s more about technique than a strength thing. I want to get more points for my team.â€
Jason DeMien said his son has learned to apply more pressure on top, gotten good at escapes as well as movement on his feet.
“As he has gotten older, he’s learned to get angles and work those really hard,†Jason DeMien said.
Tanner goes into each practice with a game plan. He knows what he wants to concentrate on and he does so with intensity and is a believer in Hummel’s insistence on repetition.
“If I’m going drill high crotch, I’d rather do that 50 times then run five moves 10 times each,†Tanner said. “It’s just getting a couple of moves down and running them.â€
Hummel calls Tanner a “drill king.â€
“He loves to hit the move and hit the move,†Hummel said. “We talk to all of our kids about repetition.â€
Hummel and his coaching staff do not throw the kitchen sink at the Panthers. The idea is to be proficient at the things they do and not how many things they do.
“When you get close to January, there’s not much more you can teach the kids,†Hummel said. “They’ve learned what they’ve learned. Now we need to fine-tune everything. You need to be ready for sectional at the end of the year.
“Kids think they can do everything, but you’ve got to teach them two or three good moves. Some of these kids can get a couple nice takedowns and go to state with that if you’re good at it.
Practice intensity goes up while duration goes down.
“When you’ve only got one guy per weight class, you can’t beat the heck out of them everyday in 2 1/2 practices,†Hummel said. “A lot of coaches believe in a lot of moves. We believe in a smaller move base and hit them harder and faster.â€
While Tanner sees plenty of mat time during the year, he is not just a wrestler. He plays tennis for NorthWood in the fall.
“It’s great for a kid to do that,†Jason DeMien said of the multi-sport appoach. “It gives them a break from being on the mat where your body just gets worn down. Doing something different gives your mind a break.â€
Not that Tanner didn’t use his mental skills on the court.
“There’s a lot of carryover between tennis and wrestling,†Jason DeMien said. “Tennis is a very mental sport and agility is huge. I noticed that his mental game was so much stronger than kids who have been playing a long time.â€
Look for Tanner and his NorthWood Panther teammates Wednesday, Dec. 23, at Rochester’s McKee Memorial Invitational and Tuesday and Wednesday, Dec. 28-29, at Mishawaka’s Al Smith Classic.
4567#WrestlingWednesday Feature: Expecting to Win Put Ellis on Top
Brought to you by EI Sports
By JEREMY HINES
Thehines7@gmail.com
Expect to win. That was the mind set 30 years ago for one small, but mighty Indiana wrestler named Lance Ellis.
Now, three decades later, Ellis is an Indiana legend with perhaps the greatest high school wrestling resume the state has ever witnessed.
Ellis’ numbers are staggering. He wrestled 177 high school matches for Cathedral High School. He won every single one of them. He was the first of only two Indiana wrestlers to win four state titles. Of those 177 victories, he put his opponent flat on his back 151 times for the pin.
But how did Ellis get so good? What separated him from the field during the late 80s when he was the most dominating force in the sport?
“My greatest attribute was my mental toughness,†Ellis said. “I have to give credit to my coach, Lance Rhoades, and the fact that we were on a good team. But we expected to win every match – and we were in a whole lot of big matches. Every time we went out to wrestle we just absolutely expected to win.â€
Ellis’s first state championship came in 1986. Mentally, he says that freshman season was his most difficult one.
“That was a really tough year,†Ellis said. “Just because I was a freshman and I was cutting quite a bit of weight. But in the end, it was worth it.â€
When Ellis reached the state championship that year, standing across the mat from him was Chesterton’s Scott Schultz, a junior he knew very little about.
“Back then there was no social media,†Ellis said. “You can’t watch matches of guys and know their whole history. But I went out expecting to win. He was a very strong kid. I put him on his back but couldn’t hold him down. I think I put him in a head lock in the first two seconds of the match, but he rolled out of it.â€
Schultz was one of only a few opponents Ellis didn’t pin. But that doesn’t mean he didn’t dominate. Ellis won the state championship his freshman year by technical fall.
“I didn’t know much about him going in to the final,†Schultz said. “He was a freshman. But I was astonished at how well he knew my style. I was a powerful wrestler and I used that to control my opponents and won by many falls. He used that against me most effectively and basically controlled me the entire match and scored repeatedly, taking me off my feet several times.â€
Schultz was a runner-up the next season as well, losing 16-10 in the finals at 105 pounds to Jay County’s David Ferguson.
Ellis comes from a wrestling family. His dad, Bob, was a two-time state placer. His older brother, Scott, was a state champion for Warren Central.
“I just followed them around from tournament to tournament,†Ellis said. “My dad coached me. It was just the way we grew up. We were a wrestling family.â€
One big advantage, Ellis feels, was that he grew up in the Catholic Youth Organization.
“There are so many good kids wrestling today,†Ellis said. “There are so many clubs and year around wrestling. I was doing year around wrestling when nobody else was. A lot of that is because I came up through the CYO where we wrestled folkstyle from kindergarten through eighth grade. The only opportunities you really had at that time were freestyle.â€
Ellis’ biggest test in a state championship match came his sophomore year. He was going up against Bellmont junior John Faurote in the 112 pound weight class.
“My sophomore year was my closest final,†Ellis said. “I won 3-2. I gave up an escape point and I gave up a point on cautions. I was kind of nervous on that one. Whenever we had a restart, I had to focus on where my hands and feet were so I didn’t give up another caution point. I felt like I was in control of the match, but I only had a one point lead.â€
In his junior season Ellis needed to do more than just win the state championship. He needed to pin Merrilville’s Mark Rosenbalm.
“My junior year it got very interesting,†Ellis said. “We were in a really close team race with Bellmont. Coach told me I had to pin the kid. That’s a lot of pressure in the state finals. We were within a couple of points of Bellmont. I won by a major decision (12-4), so it was bitter sweet. We got second that year, but it actually came down to another match later in the day.â€
As a senior Ellis was quickly taken down by Rushville’s Scott Wilson. Ellis was able to stand up, throw Wilson and pin him in 1:15. He ended his high school career with a pin in the state championship.
“I remember the feeling when my hand was raised,†Ellis said. “It was relief and excitement. It was a great way to end it. Everyone I knew was there to see it. I had about 100 people there to watch me.â€
Ellis said he never really felt pressure as the wins piled up and the momentum of having a perfect career started to roll. He said he approached his final matches the same way he did that freshman year, with an expectation that he was going to win.
Ellis is now the coach of Indianapolis Roncalli. This is his 11th season as the head coach and his 20th overall as a coach in some capacity in Indiana
“I love coaching,†Ellis said. “It’s an absolute blast. I’ve got to coach my own sons (Brennan graduated in 2012 and Nick is a senior this season). I hopefully have had a positive impact on a lot of other kids, too.â€
Ellis said his greatest moments as a coach aren’t always from having the standout wrestlers. He enjoys seeing kids improve and overcome obstacles.
“One of the wrestlers that really stick out to me is a kid named Tony Bell,†Ellis said. “He started out as a freshman and had a lot of health issues. But he worked his butt off. He was always around. He was a great leader. As a senior he qualified for the state tournament and that was probably one of the greatest moments I have had as a coach.â€
When asked if Ellis had any advice for New Palestine senior Chad Red, who is undefeated in his career with three state titles already under his belt, Ellis said that Red doesn’t need advice.
“Chad already knows what he is doing,†Ellis said. “He’s already beat all the kids over and over. He’s the best wrestler I’ve seen in my 20 years, no doubt. Jason Tsirtsis, Alex Tsirtsis and Angel Escebedo were very good, but right now, Chad Red, with everything he has done, is amazing.â€
Ellis says today’s wrestlers have a lot more technique than when he wrestled. They have more opportunities to wrestle year around and to see great competition. But some of the intangibles that he had when he wrestled, is what he thinks kids today need to succeed.
“When they are in the practice room, they need to go 100 percent the whole time,†Ellis said. “They need to focus on doing everything right. They can’t take breaks. They can’t go half way.
“Wrestling is such a tough sport. It’s so demanding. Especially in the practice room. You have to live on the mat and get as much time as you can. And I can’t stress enough how important it is to drill hard, and drill correctly.â€
Ellis isn’t sure when he will step down as a head coach, but he plans to always be around the sport. Thirty years after dominating opponents on the mat, he isn’t slowing down yet.
3883#MondayMatness: Jimmies Rise to the Occasion
By STEVE KRAH
stvkrh905@gmail.com
Plenty of practice and coaching reminders gave Jimtown High School wrestlers to succeed during a recent grueling stretch.
The Jimmies placed 11th out of 32 teams in the 37th annual Al Smith Classic, held Dec. 29-30 at Mishawaka. Jimtown junior Kenny Kerrn took top honors at 145 pounds.
On Saturday, Jan. 2, the Jimmies finished second out of 12 squads in the Indiana High School Wrestling Coaches Association State Duals at Fort Wayne’s Memorial Coliseum. Jimtown edged Yorktown 31-30 in the semifinals before bowing 46-23 to Bellmont in the Class 3A finals.
Jimtown head coach Mark Kerrn and his staff got the Jimmies ready for the tough week with quality mat time the week after Christmas and through visualization and confidence-building drills.
Repetition in practice and time spent in the high school off-season at tournaments, camps and Indiana State Wrestling Association Regional Training Center sessions at Jimtown, Penn and Mishawaka continues to get the Jimmies ready for whatever they face during a match.
“We work a lot in practice on situations,†Mark Kerrn said. “It’s about knowing what the score is and (getting an extra point or avoiding giving one up). We’ve been making good decisions.â€
Kerrn constantly talks about the effort it takes to be a Jimmie wrestler and the family bond that is being built though the shared hard work.
“A lot of kids sacrificed (in the State Duals, especially against Yorktown),†Mark Kerrn said. “They were getting thrown in against better wrestlers, but they were unselfish.â€
In giving Yorktown its first-ever loss in State Duals competition in an event began in 2012-13, Jimtown got pin victories from sophomore Hunter Whitman (113), Kenny Kerrn (145) and senior Ben Davis (182), a major decision victory from junior Dalton Heintzberger (170) and decision triumphs from freshman Matt Gimson (120), senior Jarod Hayes (195) and junior Nick Mammolenti (heavyweight).
The Jimmies yielded two pins to the Tigers, but no other “bonus†points (four for a major decision, five of a technical fall or six for a pin or forfeit).
Mammolenti won 4-3 in overtime and freshman Hunter Watts (106) took the final match to overtime before losing 9-6 while giving up no extra points and helping Jimtown to a narrow win.
“Going in I knew I had to win to give us (a chance to win) the match,†Mammolenti.
After he was penalized for a fleeing — a call he disagreed with — the Jimmie heavyweight got fired up even more.
“That really made me motivated to take (Yorktown’s Jacob Rhoades) down,†Mammolenti said. “I got up and turned around and shot at him and I don’t think he expected it. Then he was hurt. I just had to ride him out for another three seconds and it was over.â€
Mammolenti credits his progression in the sport to all the coaches who train with him in practice. Among those are Paul Bachtel, a state champion for Concord in 197x and a longtime Jimtown assistant.
“If I can do anything on him, I can do anything on anybody,†Mammolenti said.
Also contributing to Jimtown’s 2A runner-up finish were freshman Connor Gimson (126), senior Greden Kelley (132), senior Cole Watson (138), senior John Windowmaker (152), freshman Tyler Norment (160), freshman Aaron Martinez (also at 170) and junior Caleb Fowler (220).
Jimtown followed up the performance in Fort Wayne with a practice filled with a little fun as well as work. With a day off of classes, the Jimmies wore “crazy†singlets and had a dodgeball tournament before being put through drills by assistant coach Anthony Lewis.
“We try to break up the monotony as much as possible,†Lewis said. “We had just had a tough week — mental and physically.â€
Lewis, who wrestled for uncle Darrick Snyder at Mishawaka and joined the Jimtown staff in 2012-13 to help the Jimmies place fifth at State Duals and get Nick Crume an individual state championship, said the season is a progression.
In early practices, coaches show wrestlers a large number of moves. As the season goes on, those moves are refined and a wrestler finds the combinations that works best for them. Practices become shorter, but more intense.
The constant is the attack mode.
“We try to push the pace and control the tempo in the match,†Lewis said. “Get the first takedown and then keep lighting the scoreboard up after that.â€
Mark Kerrn asks his youth athletes to give it their all during workouts, but he knows that there’s more to life.
“We ask them everyday to touch the sign, just think about wrestling for two hours and then they go back to being a kid,†Mark Kerrn said. “It’s not wrestling 24/7.â€
But the dedication needs to be there as Mark’s son will attest.
“You’ve got to love the sport of wrestling,†Kenny Kerrn said. “It’s an intense sport. You can’t dread it.â€
After a 3-1 day at the West Noble Super Dual (the loss came against 2015-16 IHSWCA State Duals 1A winner Prairie Heights) on Saturday, Jan. 9, the Jimmies look forward to the Northern Indiana Conference tournament Saturday, Jan. 16 at Mishawaka (the first NIC meet since Jimtown, Bremen, Glenn and New Prairie joined the conference in 2015-16) and then the IHSAA state tournament series.
“The (Elkhart Sectional) is wide open,†Mark Kerrn said of the eight-team field. “There’s about five teams who could win. It just depends who is on that day.â€
2723#MondayMatness: Eli Working on Another Podium Finish
By STEVE KRAH
stvkrh905@gmail.com
David Eli got an up-close look at the big stage as a sophomore.
The Elkhart Memorial High School wrestler placed seventh at 182 pounds at the 2014-15 IHSAA State Finals.
A year wiser and stronger, Eli has his sights set on loftier heights in 2015-16.
Working with a Brian Weaver-led coaching staff that includes former successful Memorial wrestlers, Eli is honing his skills for a tournament run.
Eli spent the time between high school season attending Indiana State Wrestling Association Regional Training Center workouts at Penn and going to freestyle and folkstyle tournaments.
Just before the start of the current Crimson Charger slate, he went to Las Vegas and went 8-2 in two divisions of the “Freak Show.†Competing at 200 pounds, he won the varsity division and placed fourth in the elite.
That experience combined with plenty of time in the weight room led the a season filled with grueling training sessions and more victories on the mat.
“We’ve been working real hard,†Eli said after a recent win at 182. “I feel like I’ve got conditioning on some guys.â€
Weight workouts — especially with his legs — have added the muscle to help put away opponents.
His regular workout partner at Memorial has been senior 170-pounder Nick Ritchie and both have benefitted from pushing one another.
“For David to get down to the State Finals again this year, he needs opponents that can push him to his limitations,†Weaver said. “Nick Corpe, Shane Hendrickson and Tieshawn Johnson can push David to his limitations, get him where he needs to get.â€
Corpe and Hendrickson are EMHS assistant coaches and Johnson is a 2014 Memorial graduate.
Corpe was a state champion for the Chargers at 171 in 2004-05 and went on to compete at Purdue University.
Hendrickson, a 2010 Memorial graduate and two-time semistate qualifier and Northern Lakes Conference champion, wrestled for Trine University.
Johnson, who placed fifth at the 2013-14 State Finals at 195, wrestled at Indiana Tech.
“It really helps me out, them coming into the room and working with me,†Eli said.
Corpe has been impressed with Eli’s work ethic and athleticism.
“He doesn’t miss any practices,†Corpe said of Eli. “He just keeps getting better.
“He digs for his ties and gets to his positions. When he hits his moves, he’s explosive. He stays in control of the match.â€
While Eli has been successful with blast double, high crotch and headlock combinations, Corpe wants him to add to his arsenal.
“To win a state title, you need more than one shot,†Corpe said. “You’ve got to be able to scramble and know your positions. On top, he’s good. He’s a strong kid. But it usually comes down to the feet game. You need to compete with everyone on your feet.â€
Eli has taken this to heart.
“I can be one-dimensional,†Eli said. “I’m working on scoring from more positions.
“No matter who I’m wrestling, I’ve got to make sure I’m finishing my shots. Everything needs to be crisp.â€
Hendrickson said it is the basics that make Eli so good.
“He is one of the more fundamentally-sound wrestlers I’ve ever seen in high school,†Hendrickson said of Eli. “That’s what we continue to work on. Fundamentals — David has gone them down. That’s why he’s ranked so high. That’s why he’s going to do damage at the state tournament.â€
Hendrickson sees Eli stay in what he calls “power positions.â€
“He’s always in a good stance,†Hendrickson said. “He doesn’t expose his side or his hip as much as he can help it.â€
Weaver, who placed seventh at the State Finals at 130 in 1996, said Eli and other high school (folkstyle) wrestlers have benefitted from freestyle wrestling.
“There are more angles to freestyle and you can lock hands,†Weaver said. “(Freestyle) helps with mat awareness. Anytime you expose your back to the mat, it’s two points. A freestyle match can go very quick. You have to keep yourself in very good position the entire match.â€
Some folkstyle matches become a contest of playing near the edge of the mat. That’s not the case in freestyle.
“Freestyle does not allow you to play the out-of-bounds line,†Weaver said. “(The official) will blow the whistle and take you right back to the center. They don’t want the lag time.
“I’m hoping that Indiana will go to the college rules where if you have any limb inside the circle, it’s still live wrestling. It will eliminate playing the out-of-bounds line game.â€
Taking his knowledge of freestyle and his work ethic, Eli is aiming high this season.
Next up for Eli and the Chargers is a dual against Northridge Tuesday, Jan. 19, and the NLC Tournament Saturday, Jan. 23 — both at Memorial.
2164#WrestlingWednesday Feature: Two New College Programs in Indiana
Brought to you by EI Sports
By JEREMY HINES
thehines7@gmail.com
Two Indiana Wrestling Hall of Famers will be at the forefront of expanding the state’s college wrestling reach next season.
Steve VanDerAa will be Ancilla College’s first wrestling coach beginning in the 2016-2017 season. Steven Bradley will be at the helm of Marian University’s first year program, also beginning next season.
“Obviously being the first coach, nobody has been before me,†Bradley said. “There are no footsteps to follow and not a lot of pressure. I get to create my own footsteps. It’s a good thing. When I’m all done, many years from now, hopefully I will have set a standard that other people will want to strive to acheive.â€
Bradley was a three-time state champion wrestler from Beech Grove High School. He has coached at the college level for 10 seasons. The move to Marian was exactly the kind of job he was looking for. It enables Bradley to be closer to his family.
For VanDerAa, who coached Winimac High School for 20 seasons, he couldn’t resist the chance to get back into the coaching game.
“I’ve officiated the last couple of years, but I’ve really missed coaching,†VanDerAa said. “I can’t wait to get back into it.â€
VanDerAa is the first lay coach to be inducted into the Indiana Wrestling Hall of Fame. He has a coaching record of 404-96 and says all but six of his career losses came at the hands of schools larger than Winimac. He has helped coached Indiana legends like Angel Escobedo and Alex Tsirtsis.
Both coaches are excited about the chance to build their programs from the ground up.
“That’s the most exciting part,†said VanDerAa. I have a say in how we’re going to put the wrestling room together. We’re ordering all new equipment and when we are recruiting we get to tell them that they are the first and they are going to be the foundation of our program.â€
Bradley said recruiting has been relatively easy from the start.
“It’s been nice,†Bradley said. “I’ve receive a lot of interest already. There are a lot of people contacting me and talking about the school. I’ve started talking to kids. The interest has been amazing at how many people in the first few weeks have sent emails, calls and text to get information. They love that there is another choice out there.â€
Bradley sees wrestling rising in popularity, especially at the small college level.
“The interest is increasing across the country,†Bradley said. “We give kids another option. They can stay close to home and compete. I think it’s a good thing Indiana has more options. It will help Indiana wrestling as a whole. It will help high school kids. The more kids going to college and wrestling, the more young kids will see that and want to follow behind.â€
Both Bradley and VanDerAa have similar characteristics they look for in a recruit.
“Academics are important,†VanDerAa said. “But I’m also looking for athletes that want to be part of our charter program. I want kids dedicated to the sport. I want guys that will do hard work, follow directions and be model young men for the sport.â€
Bradley is also looking for hard workers.
“They have to be able to work hard,†Bradley said. “We need kids with integrity. We want kids that want to do well academically and kids that want to do well on the mats. I want kids that constantly want more for themselves and push themselves towards their goals.â€
Ancilla College is a part of the National Junior College Athletic Association, while Marian is a part of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.
2261#WrestlingWednesday: Basketball Not Rypel's Cup of Tea
Brought to you by EI Sports
By JEREMY HINES
Thehines7@gmail.com
Indianapolis Cathedral’s Blake Rypel is one of Indiana’s most dominating forces on the wrestling mat. His name is recognized by just about everyone who cares even a little bit about the sport in the Hoosier state. Rypel wants more though – he wants everyone in the country to know his name.
“I want to be one of the most recognizable names in college wrestling as well,†Rypel said. “I want to be a four-year contender for the National Championship.â€
Rypel, a senior at Cathedral, will wrestle next season for the Indiana Hoosiers. He currently is 34-0 this season and is riding an 80-match winning streak.
“Blake is the kind of wrestler that is tough to coach,†Cathedral coach Sean McGinley said. “He can do so many things that you really don’t practice. You kind of let him go on that. He’s so good on the mat, he’s teaching us in the room. He’s a very special wrestler.â€
Last season Rypel was the state champion at 195 pounds. This year, in order to benefit the Cathedral team, Rypel has cut down to 182 pounds.
“Here’s a guy that is committed to IU,†McGinley said. “He’s a returning state champ. He’s ranked No. 1 in the state at 195 pounds. But he decides to drop weight and go down to 182 for the betterment of the team. That right there tells you what kind of kid Blake is.â€
Rypel’s decision to drop to 182 was for the benefit of the team, but it was also to help out his good friend Ben Stewart.
“Ben is a football player,†Rypel said. “He wants to play in college and he wants to be bulking up, not cutting weight. So I said I would go down to 182 so he didn’t have to.â€
Stewart is currently ranked No. 2 in the state at 195.
“If Blake doesn’t go down to 182, Ben doesn’t wrestle,†McGinley said. “So obviously his decision to drop has greatly helped our team.â€
Rypel finished seventh as a freshman at 160 pounds. He was second his sophomore season at 182 and he won last year at 195.
His freshman year was one of his most trying seasons because his father passed away unexpectedly a few weeks before the start of the season.
“That was terrible,†Rypel said. “I used it as motivation though. I dedicated a lot of my wins to my dad. Every once in a while I start to dwell on his death, but I try not to.â€
Rypel comes from a basketball family. His dad, brother and sister were all basketball standouts. Ironically, Blake was introduced to wrestling through basketball.
“My basketball coach at the time, I think it was around 2005 or 2006, had a son that wrestled and he told me that I might like it,†Rypel said. “The first year I thought wrestling was OK, but in the second year I really started winning and fell in love with the sport.â€
Rypel is already focused on his college wrestling. He has dreamed of going to Indiana University ever since he was little, and he can’t wait to put on that Hoosier singlet.
“Every college I visited was pretty cool,†Rypel said. “But I already knew everyone on IU’s team. I have been a Hoosier fan all of my life. I never thought that one day I’d be good enough to wrestle for them.â€
McGinley believes Rypel will have a lot of success in college because he is a dominating wrestler on top, which suits the college style.
As far as finishing his high school career, he said anything less than a state championship would be a disappointment.
Rypel won the Lawrence Central sectional last week, beating No. 3 ranked Cameron Jones 8-6 in the final.
He hopes Cathedral can also claim the team state championship. The Irish have seven ranked wrestlers still competing: Lukasz Waldensak (No. 13, 106), Jordan Slivka (No. 12, 113), Breyden Bailey (No. 2, 126), Zach Melloh (No. 6, 132), Rypel (No. 1, 182), Stewart (No. 2, 195) and Ryan Guhl (No. 9, 220).
“I really believe we have some of the strongest wrestlers in the state,†Rypel said. “As long as our guys can place, we have a real good shot at winning.â€
4217#WrestlingWednesday: Monrovia Seeing Success on the Mat and Gridiron
Brought to you by EI Sports
By JEREMY HINES
Thehines7@gmail.com
Two wrestlers. That is all Monrovia’s high school team had competing in the first meet of the season. A few months later the Bulldogs were claiming third place at Team State, with 22 wrestlers on the roster.
That is typical for wrestling at Monrovia, a powerhouse football school. The Bulldogs highly encourage wrestlers to play football, and football players to wrestle. They believe the two sports go hand-in-hand.
Monrovia won the class 2A football state championship on November 28. That was one week after the school’s first wrestling meet.
“We went from two kids to 22 after football was over,†Monrovia coach Kevin Blundell said. “I get a lot of freshmen and sophomores that have never wrestled before. The kids that wrestle are really good on the football field. They say wrestling helps them. The football coach pushes all the linemen, especially, to wrestle.â€
Monrovia is used to early struggles in wrestling. Kids come in after football in football shape, not in wrestling shape.
“It’s harder than what you think to get these guys in wrestling shape,†Blundell said. “A lot of people see a running back and think he’s in shape. But wrestling is a totally different thing. It’s challenging. A lot of these kids come in way over weight. We focus initially on getting in shape, and then we start to hit the technique side in practice.â€
Junior Garrison Lee, the team’s only returning state qualifier, is a prime example. Lee was the starting fullback on the football team. Any time the Bulldogs needed five yards on the ground, Lee was their go-to-guy. But he came in to wrestling quite a bit over weight and not at all ready to go three long periods on the mat with an opponent.
“He was a monster,†Blundell said. “I didn’t think he would make 195. I think I talked to him at football regionals and asked him what he was weighing, and he just told me that I didn’t want to know.â€
Eventually the Monrovia wrestlers settled in to their weight classes, and then the successes started rolling. The team had three champions at the Mooresville sectional, and sent six to regional. Lee won regional, with sophomore Brycen Denny finishing third at 106 pounds and 220 pounder Dristin McCubbins, a senior, finishing second.
“Brycen (39-2) has worked very hard to get to where he’s at,†Blundell said. “He’s been in football forever, but he’s only 106 pounds so he decided this season he’s just going to wrestle. Then the team wins state. But he’s still happy with the decision he made. It was what was best for him.
“Garrison was our only qualifier last year. He knows what he needs to do. He’s been there and lost a really close match last year. He has had that lingering in his mind. He’s has a motor on him and he’s mentally tough.â€
Also advancing for the Bulldogs is Dristin’s younger brother Riley, a 29-11 sophomore heavyweight.
“When Riley qualified I was very happy to see that,†Dristin said. “We became the first brothers in Monrovia history to both qualify for semistate at the same time.â€
For Blundell, those early days with just two wrestlers competing seem like a distant memory. He knows that will probably always be the case at Monrovia, where football reigns supreme. But he’s fine with that. He knows, once football is over, wrestling really begins.
“This is a school where the parents are really great,†Blundell said. “They don’t want their kids sitting around doing nothing, so they put them in a lot of sports. They push their kids to do their best and they give me a green light to do whatever we need to do. This is a football school, but we’re becoming a wrestling school as well.â€
2216#MondayMatness: Clicking at the Wright Time
By STEVE KRAH
stvkrh905@gmail.com
Confidence and conviction can take you a long way.
Kokomo High School wrestlers like junior 113-pounder Jabin Wright (45-5) and senior 145-pounder Szhantrayl Roberson (42-10) have taken that and landed in the IHSAA State Finals — Wright for the second time and Roberson for the first.
These two Wildkats are the 14th and 15th state qualifiers in Ryan Wells’ eight season as head coach.
“My coach said I can be the best in the state if I continue to attack and continue to put pressure and I did that today,†Wright said after winning at the Fort Wayne Semistate. “He told me I can beat anybody if I keep working hard. I can’t thank him enough for that.â€
Wright said he “turned it up a notch†as the 2015-16 postseason has approached.
“I want to get better and better and I want to be on top of the podium on Saturday,†Wright said. “Coached told me, ‘Now’s your time. Now is when it really matters.’â€
Wells, a former Kokomo wrestler who graduated in 2001, asks his Kats to keep it simple and to stay aggressive and in good position. He has seen Wright stick to that plan and it has him back at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
“He is really peaking at the right time,†Wells said of Wright. “He’s just wrestling so well with his takedowns. He’s really confident.
“He’s getting deep on shots, finishing and staying in great position all the time. He’s really, really wrestling well.â€
Wright placed third at semistate and lost in the first round in 2015. As a returnee, he will have familiarity with the situation this time.
But not only that.
Wright’s first-round draw on Friday night (Feb. 19) is Logansport junior Donovan Johnson, a fourth-place finisher at the East Chicago Semistate. It will be the fourth meeting between the two during the 2015-16 season.
After losing 7-2 and 17-6 to Logansport’s Donovan Johnson during the season, Wright topped the Berries grappler 8-2 in the finals of the Jan. 24 North Central Conference tournament.
Like many wrestlers, Wright listens to music before his matches. He was scene doing dance moves prior to wrestling moves at Fort Wayne’s Memorial Coliseum.
“It calms me,†Wright said. “The music kind of just takes me. I don’t want to stress out about my matches and go out there and not stick to my gameplan.â€
And Wright’s pre-match tunes of choice?
“Music you can dab to,†Wright said.
Besides former successful Kokomo wrestlers coming into the practice room to give athletes like Wright and Roberson a different look, there are current Kats like Rafael Lopez (126) and T.T. Allen (138) to help make them better.
“Since he’s a little guy, he’s real quick,†Roberson said of Wright. “His quickness makes my reaction time better. My strength and my length makes him better because he sometimes has to face tall, lanky guys who are strong. We help each other throughout the season.â€
Roberson lost to Yorktown’s Brad Laughlin in the “ticket†round at semistate last year and now he’s going to the Big Show where he will face Evansville Mater Dei sophomore Joe Lee, a champion at the Evansville Semistate, in the first round.
What has gotten this Kat to Indy?
“I’m pretty good on my feet,†Roberson said. That’s my strength. “I like to use a Russian into a sweep single on the right side. A duck-under into a high crotch. I finish a lot with that, too.â€
Roberson also has a pre-match routine. After a talk with his coaches, he puts on his headphones for “hype-up†rap and R&B songs.
“I turn the music up real loud and get in my zone,†Roberson said. “I get my adrenaline going for the match. It usually helps.â€
3415#MondayMatness: Red Finishes Stellar Career
By STEVE KRAH
stvkrh905@gmail.com
It was one of the most highly-anticipated championship matches in the 78 years of the IHSAA State Finals.
There was a buzz around the Indiana wrestling community for months.
On Saturday, Feb. 20, before 12,602 leather-lunged fans at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in downtown Indianapolis, New Palestine’s Chad Red and Evansville Mater Dei’s Nick Lee — ranked No. 1 and 2 in the nation and holding four previous state titles between them — stepped under the lights with the 132-pound title on the line.
Here they were, what long-time State Finals public address announcer Kevin Whitehead called “two of the finest high school wrestlers on the planet.â€
The crowd and the television audience was treated to a tussle between the two Big Ten Conference-bound grapplers.
Red had never lost a match as a high schooler and yet he found himself behind 4-0 early in the match. He cradled his way back into the lead and wound up with his hand being raised after a 6-5 victory.
“I just feel like I wrestled through that match calmly and, other than giving up that four. I wrestled pretty good,†Red said. “(Lee’s quick 4-0 lead) definitely caught me off-guard. I noticed I had to move a lot more. Once I started moving a little more, I started changing the momentum of the match. Once I locked up that cradle, I started changing the momentum of the match and the crowd got a little more quiet. It was back to us wrestling. I had to control the lead.â€
The New Pal Dragon sprinted off at 183-0 with state titles at 106, 120, 126 and 132.
Red is only the third Indiana high schooler to go unbeaten throughout his career and the ninth four-time IHSAA state champion, joining Crown Point’s Jason Tsirtsis (2009-12), Griffith’s Angel Escobedo (2002-05) and Alex Tsirtsis (2001-04), Mater Dei’s Blake Maurer (2001-04), Indianapolis Cathedral’s Lance Ellis (1986-89), South Bend Central’s Howard Fisher (1949-52), Muncie Central’s Willard Duffy (1930-33) and Bloomington’s Estil Ritter (1924-27).
Lee, who was at the top of the podium at 132 in 2015 and third at 126 in 2014, finished his junior season at 16-1.
He’s been on big stages and won championships all around the country, but Saturday in Indianapolis was special.
“This is crazy,†Red said. “This is one of my favorites, if THE best.â€
Ellis, the first Indiana grappler to run the table, was there to present Red with his medal and later reflected on the moment.
“That was good for our sport, good for Indiana wrestling,†Ellis said. “What Chad Red did is amazing. He’s put himself in the record book as probably the greatest high school wrestler in Indiana history.â€
What makes Red so good?
“A lot of things,†Ellis said. “It’s the time he puts in on the mat, the dedication, athleticism, just the will to win. He’s just a phenomenal wrestler. The bond he has with his dad (Chad Red Sr.) is special. Once you start winning, it becomes contagious.â€
But what it boils down to for Ellis is that Red has what it takes to go into an early deficit, in front of a huge crowd with many rooting against him and still dig deep and come out on top.
“It comes down to mental toughness,†Ellis said. “And you’ve got to give (Nick) Lee all the credit in the world. For him to go after Red and challenge himself says a lot about him. Most people would do that. No one would do that. He’s a competitor.â€
Ellis said as impressive as the showdown was now, it will be even more important years from now when Red and Lee can look back on even bigger titles at the national and international levels.
What did Lee think about the experience?
“You don’t get to wrestle the best kid in the country all the time,†Lee said. “You don’t take it for granted. You go out there and give it 100 percent. The hype is the hype. There’s always hype every year in every weight class. The opportunity to wrestler somebody with that many great credentials is just exciting for me.â€
The moves that built the 4-0 lead?
“An inside tie to a Fireman’s (Carry) and I got him to his back, so two (points) for a takedown and two for a near fall,†Lee said. “You can’t panic when you get down and he didn’t panic and he took the lead. That’s something you can admire in wrestlers at this level. They’re always in the match no matter what the score is.â€
Red will take his talents to the college mat at Nebraska while Lee has committed to Penn State.
Who knows, but these two could meet again many times in the future?
As for the immediate future for Red, he does not plan to be back in the wrestling room on Monday.
“I’m going to take a long time off,†Red said. “I’m about the chill-ax right now, kick my feet up and sit back.â€
But Red will be back in the spotlight again soon enough when he takes on the Pennsylvania 132-pound champion March 26 at the Pittsburgh Wrestling Classic.
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